31 October 2015

Cathay´s
A350 will arrive next Feb/2016 with 280-seat configuration featuring 38 New
Business Class FB2+, 28 New Premium Economy and 214 New Long-haul Economy seats
in addition to sporting a new corporate livery.

Source: Lee Halford

The
New Business Class seat design customized by Porsche will incorporate
a dimmable reading light.

The
Panasonic eX3 inflight entertainment system (IFE) will have full-swipe
capability similar to that seen on Qatar Airways’ and Finnair’s A350s.

Taking
into consideration its tremendously successful Australian operation –at around 88%
and 98% load factor during the Golden Week- the meaningful question is if
Cathay needs more A350-900 than existing 22 units on order.

The
A350 is uniquely suitable for replacing the 13 251-seat reconfigured A330-300s,
with a 12.04% bigger Economy cabin.

Source: Travelling For Miles

This
means that route groups are already clamouring for the 22 A350-900s, with the
inaugural long-haul A350
service to Auckland in May/2016 taking up 2 aircraft, following
regional familiarisation to Manila, Taipei, Singapore, Osaka Kansai,
Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City.

Assuming
6 of the 13 long-haul A330-300s are replaced, this will already have taken up 8
A350-900s inclusive of the daily Auckland service, leaving 14 aircraft destined
for the rationalisation of European network which currently takes precedence,
or 7 destinations in both directions.

Source: andiation380

Further factoring in launches of new
destinations such as Copenhagen and Seattle, as well as extra frequency
opportunities such as making Düsseldorf or Manchester more than 4 times
weekly with the smaller A350, it is very easy to see why the A350-900 is in
high demand within Cathay.

A
potential workaround is to deploy the displaced 3-class 777-300ERs from Europe
onto the Sydney and Melbourne routes, albeit the oneworld carrier is already
studying the deployment of A350-900s to Australia in late-2016.

Based
on the article “Cathay Pacific´s new livery signifies fresh direction”
published in Aspire Aviation.

30 October 2015

The last A350
delivered to Qatar was on 11/June (MSN10) and after more than 4 months without
deliveries to the launch customer, finally today Airbus has delivered the MSN11
and MSN8 to Qatar Airways.

Source: Jujug Spotting

These are the 5th and 6th aircraft delivered to Qatar Airways
and the 9th and 10th A350 delivered to Customers.

Source: Jujug Spotting

The MSN8, registered
A7-ALE, was airborne on 9/July and it's delivery has been postponed several
times in August, September and October. It has performed 11 flight test in
July (4), August (1) and October (6).

Source: A380_TLS_A350

The MSN11, registered A7-ALF,
was airborne on 28/August and it has performed 5 flight test.

Source: A380_TLS_A350

The reasons behind these delays have not been populated neither by Airbus nor by Qatar Airways.

These two aircraft will allow
Qatar to start on 1/Nov the Doha-Munich daily route.

29 October 2015

LATAM will be the 1st airline to operate
transoceanic routes from Madrid-Barajas to South-America with the Airbus A350.

Source: Clement Alloing

LATAM -the merge of LAN (Chile) and TAM (Brazil)- will
bring the new Airbus A350 to Madrid in May/2016.

Source: Airbus

"We will be the 1st company to cross the Atlantic
with this modern aircraft" said Rodrigo Contreras, General Director of
LATAM Europe.

LATAM will be the 4th airline to receive the
A350-900 end of December this year.

Source: Airbus

LATAM is in the struggle of various groups of airlines to
dominate routes between Europe and South America.

Currently, Iberia –which has ordered the A350 too- is the
absolute leader in this market, although LATAM will be the first deploying the
A350 at Barajas, a few months before Iberia begins to receive their order.

Source: Airbus

LATAM has a important advantage: “the regional network of
LATAM is unbeatable: 42 destinations in Brazil and 115 on the continent", said
Contreras.

Based on the article “LATAM se
adelanta a Iberia: traerá el A350 a Madrid-Barajas en mayo” published in 02B.com

28 October 2015

Malaysia Airlines is planning to use its incoming fleet
of 4 A350-900s to replace its A380-800s on the Kuala Lumpur - London
Heathrow route once the twinjets begin arriving during the last quarter of
2017.

Last month, Malaysia Airlines signed long-term lease agreements with Air Lease
Corporation (ALC) for 4 new A350-900s with options for 2 additional jets of the
same type as well as 2 A330-900neo aircraft.

The A350s are slated to arrive between the 4Q/2017 and 2Q/2018.

An airline official -speaking on condition of anonymity- said the Malaysian
national carrier has struggled to attract sufficient loads for the
double-decker quadjet.

The A380s were used on Malaysia Airlines' flagship
European routes to London Heathrow as well as Paris CDG though the latter has
since been replaced with a B777-200(ER).

All pictures. Source: Manuel Belleli.

Based on the article
“Malaysia Airlines mulls A380 fleet options post-A350 arrival” published in
ch-aviation

27 October 2015

Qatar
Airways will begin flying to Adelaide in early May/2016 using its A350, just 2
months after it launches into Sydney.

Source: Airbus

The daily schedule will represent Australia's
first Airbus A350 service.

Source: Airbus

The
Oneworld member airline already flies the A350 from its hub at Doha to
Frankfurt and Singapore.

Flight QR914from
Doha will depart at 8:55pm, arriving into Adelaide at 4:25pm the following day.

Source: Airbus

The return leg QR915 will
be wheels-up from Adelaide at 9:30pm and reach Doha at 04:50am the next day,
with onwards connections to the Europe and the UK.

Qatar already flies to Melbourne and Perth,
with Sydney joining the network on March 1st.

Source: AirbusGroup

"2016 is going to be yet another
exciting year for Qatar Airways and we are very pleased that Australia will
figure prominently in our expansion plans with the launch of flights to Sydney
from 1st/March and Adelaide from 2nd/May to further strengthen our
operations in the country," commented Qatar Airways CEO Mr Akbar Al Baker,
on the new route.

Based
on the article “Qatar to fly Airbus A350 to Adelaide from May 2016” published
in Australian Business Traveller.

26 October 2015

The Spanish
Board of Ministers has authorized last Friday to the Industry-Ministry to grant
support of 19 million euros to Alestis Aerospace for their participation in the
development program of the A350 XWB aircraft.

Source: Rami Khanna-Prade

This
financial help was originally planned for 2013 but it was not finally paid 2
years ago due to the bankruptcy situation of the company at that time.

According
to the Industry -Ministry, the measures taken in relation to Alestis guarantee
"the conclusion of their participation" in the program of the A350
XWB, which is considered by the Government as a strategic for aerospace
industry established in Spain, and the fulfillment of the viability plan that
allowed Alestis to get out of the bankruptcy situation in 2014.

Airbus
was bound to recue Alestis when it was in bankruptcy as a consequence of
severalproblems in the development of
A350 belly fairing components. Later, Airbus even entered its shareholders.

Alestis
has currently 3 shareholders; Airbus with 61,91% of the representation, the
Spanish public society of industrial participations (SEPI)with 24%, and Andalusian bank Unicaja with
14%.

25 October 2015

Europe's first Airbus
A350 XWB operator Finnair will begin Singapore Changi Airport flights using the
aircraft in June/2016, and will also increase the frequency from those provided
by its existing Airbus A330 services.

Source: paulplessius

The Finnish flag
carrier operates 5X-weekly services to Singapore, but will increase those to 7
using a combination of A330 and A350 aircraft until the carrier takes delivery
of more A350s.

Source: @Aviation_Pics

"We expect to
take 3 more A350s this year, but until we have enough aircraft in the fleet to
fully service the Singapore route we will use both aircraft—probably for the
first month of operation," Finnair head of travel products Anssi Partanen
said.

Source: @inFoRo

He said the new A350
service to Singapore would complement its newly announced services to Shanghai
in November/2015, Fukuoka in early 2016 and Guangzhou in May/2016.

Source: @inFoRo

"These new
services to Asia destinations like Fukuoka and Guangzhou won't be the last you
will see from us," Anssi Partanen said.

Source: spp_k

"We will
introduce more in future; we are looking both at new destinations and
extensions of services to existing destinations."

Based on the article
“Finnair to start Singapore A350 flights June 2016” published in Air Transport
World

“Based on the A350-1000, it
would be hard to believe they wouldn´t do something” he said.

Tinseth labeled the
in-development A350-1000 a “disaster”, arguing it has “compromised” engines and wings.

This, he said, is partly down
to the decision to increase thrust through changes in the Trent XWB engine core
without enlargement of the powerplant´s nacelle when Airbus redesigned the
variant in 2011.

Source: Marina Lystseva

“I don´t think they can live long
with being outsold … in that segment”, said Tinseth.

But he believes that a
A350-1100 would not pose a threat, because such a move would be “something we
contemplated early in the 777X development process”.

Source: Getty images

At the Paris Air show, Airbus
COO Customers John Leahy said the A350-900 was not the programs centre of
reference, with it´s middle point moving “toward A350-1000”.

Based on the article “Seattle expects successor to
“compromised” A350-1000” published in Flight International.

21 October 2015

Qatar
Airways would be interested in buying a stretched A350-1000 derivative
should Airbus decide to build one, but only if it offers enough of a step over
the rival Boeing 777-9X.

Source: Airbus

Qatar
Airways is the launch operator for both the A350-900 and A350-1000 and a major
customer for the A350 -holding orders for 80 aircraft- although 2 years ago at
the Dubai air show signed orders for 60 Boeing 777X (10 -8X and 50 -9X) for
delivery from 2020.

Qatar
Airways Group CEO Akbar Al Baker told Flightglobal that he believes Airbus
must develop a larger A350 to compete effectively with Boeing and his airline
is a potential customer.

Source: Airbus

“We
would be interested in a stretch of the A350-1000. Airbus has no alternative – to
be competitive it will have to do something that is bigger and better than the
777-9X,” he said.

Source: Airbus

To
achieve this, Al Baker said the A350 stretch will need to incorporate “new
engine technology” and doubted that the existing Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engine
could be adapted for the larger variant as the powerplant “is already at its
fullest” for the A350-1000.

Source: Airbus

Despite
the large 777X commitment, Al Baker would still see a role for a larger A350 in
the Qatar Airways fleet, should it offer sufficient performance: “It would
be bigger than the -9X and we believe it will have a superior fuel burn,” he said.

Based
on the article “Qatar interested in A350 stretch: Al Baker” published in
FlightGlobal

19 October 2015

Airbus expects to make only
minor modifications to the A350-900´s fuel system in order to develop the
longer-range version launched by Singapore Airlines.

Source: Schiphol airport

The usable fuel capacity of
the A350-900 is 141.000 litres (although in the A350 characteristic document
gives a capacity of 138.000 l.) and the modification for the A350-900ULR will
increase it to 165.000l.

Source: Getty-images

To develop the A350-900ULR
the main changes will centre on adapting fuel systems computers to increase the
accessible capacity of the -900´s existing fuel tanks.

Airbus states that will also
amend inert-gas distribution pipes in the wing and air-venting.

The overall modification will
enable the fuel volume to rise by some 25.000l.

Source: Manuel Belleli

Some modifications will also
be made to the aircraft´s aerodynamic performance, although Airbus has yet to
unveil details. Maximum take-off weight will rise to 280t.

Based on the article “Extending
A350-900 range may be easy win for Airbus” published in Flight International.